Brock Fee with his dog Walter, who had been stuck in a pipe at Springwood Park in Parksville Monday morning (Dec. 4). Parksville firefighters and city workers came to the dog’s aid who had been chasing a rabbit. — Lauren Collins photo

Vancouver Island firefighters, city workers rescue dog stuck in pipe

It was a happy ending for a dog who got stuck in a water pipe this morning.

Brock Fee was walking his dogs, Walter and Betty, in Springwood Park in Parksville Monday morning (Dec. 4) when the two dogs spotted a rabbit.

“They both went after the rabbit and chased the rabbit right to the pipe,” Fee said.

Betty re-emerged following the chase, but Walter was left trapped in the pipe.

Fee said he felt helpless trying to get Walter out of the pipe on his own.

“Especially since there was no way my arm could reach in to get him (Walter), I didn’t know what to do. Luckily enough, I was able to call the fire department and the (assistant fire) chief came out and he was able to take charge of the situation,” Fee said.

Assitant fire chief Tyrone Heigh said he was called out to the scene around 10:40 a.m. Heigh then called fellow assistant chief Mike Tisdelle to bring tools to cut the pipe.

The two firefighters, along with city workers, helped to cut the pipe and coax Walter out shortly after 11 a.m., much to Fee’s delight. He said he was planning to take Walter and Betty home for a quiet afternoon.

Heigh said the Parksville Volunteer Fire Department has been called out to scenes such as this before.

“We’ve done cats in trees. This is the second time I’ve (helped rescue) a dog in a drain. We got a bird out of a tree once,” Heigh said.

Heigh said the department does try to assist people in these situations as best as the department can.

“(The dog) was only trying to get forward, but of course you have this big rabbit in front of it, which I feel bad for the rabbit actually,” said Heigh. “(The rabbit) was like, ‘Dude, I was just doing my thing this morning and another animal started bugging me.’”